Jake Gross

Long ago, in a garden, God-breathed, and mankind came to be (Genesis 2:4-8). God made the whole earth, breathing life into you and me so we may return our breath to him in fellowship.  We call this fellowship: prayer. Tim Keller describes prayer as “the way we know God, the way we finally treat God as God,” and “the key to everything we need to do and be in life.” Charles Spurgeon noted that “true prayer is neither a mere mental exercise nor a vocal performance” but a far deeper “spiritual transaction with the Creator of Heaven and Earth.” With such a high degree of weight, gravity, and purpose, knowing and learning how to pray must be central to walking with God.  So, what is prayer, and how exactly do we do it?  Is it a blessing before dinner?  A nightly bedtime routine?  Is it offering polite sentiments or thanking God for life’s many blessings?  Does it feel like a casual conversation with a friend or a desperate plea for help?   Although there are numerous approaches to prayer and ways to pray, the Gospel of Matthew provides a helpful model and structure to guide us along our journey of better knowing how to pray. Often referred to as “The Lord’s Prayer,” this model for prayer is not a mere religious routine composed of benign words meant to be memorized, washed, rinsed, and repeated. Rather, these are the Holy words of Jesus, Son of God, and they are a central starting place for beholding God and guiding our fellowship with him through prayer.  Jesus said:  “This, then, is how you should pray: “‘Our Father in heaven, hallowed be your name, your kingdom come, your will be done,    on earth as it is in heaven. Give us today our daily bread. And forgive us our debts,    as we also have forgiven our debtors. And lead us not into temptation,    but deliver us from the evil one.’ Matthew 6:5-13 Attempting to plumb the depths of the Lord’s Prayer in one short article is akin to seeking to understand the vastness of the heavens through the lens of a single telescope. However, by observing a few primary elements of the Lord’s Prayer, we can learn several incredible truths about who God is and how we can better fellowship with Him through prayer: Our Father in heaven, Hallowed be thy name // A Prayer of Ascription & Adoration The Lord’s Prayer begins by rightly ascribing to God His person and His place. In our attempts to approach our Creator in fellowship through prayer, Jesus is instructing us first to behold God as he is, and then from that place, and from that posture, allow our prayers to follow. Notice that Jesus does not instruct us to start with “requests.”  Similar to David’s prayers in Psalm 103, Jesus is instructing us to first “bless His holy name.”  Starting prayer with ascription and adoration not only places honor where it is due but also positions our hearts to properly respond in holy awe to the One who created us and desires our fellowship. Your Kingdom come, Your will be done // A Prayer of Consecrated Submission What does it mean to see God’s Kingdom come and His will be done? Theologian John Calvin provides a taste of what this means by saying, “The substance of this prayer is, that God would enlighten the world by the light of his Word—would form the hearts of men, by the influences of his Spirit, to obey his justice, and would restore to order, by the gracious exercise of his power, all the disorder that exists in the world.” Jesus is modeling for us both a declaration of God’s Kingship and also our subsequent need for His will and reign in our lives and in the affairs of the world. This approach of consecrated submission postures our inclinations away from seeking my kingdom and my will and toward the better way of Thy Kingdom and Thy Will.  Give us this day our daily bread // A Prayer of Supplication Jesus doesn’t leave things merely at prayers of ascription, adoration, or consecration. He also models for us God’s fatherly desire that we ask of Him our needs. God desires his children to ask of their Abba. He is the King of the Kingdom, the One rightly positioned as our Heavenly Father, and he loves to hear our expressions of needs and requests.  Yet rather than merely asking through a list of never-ending needs, we see in the words of Jesus that God wants us to first approach Jesus as both our foremost need and the only one capable of truly fulfilling our needs. In John 6:35, Jesus declares of himself, “I am the bread of life. Whoever comes to me will never go hungry, and whoever believes in me will never be thirsty.”  Jesus is inviting us to come to the well and drink.  Forgive us our debts, as we also have forgiven our debtors // A Prayer of Intercession Hebrews 4:16 says, “Let us then approach God’s throne of grace with confidence, so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help us in our time of need.” In the midst of our sinful and flawed nature, Jesus reminds us in this model for prayer that we are loved and welcomed. When it comes to fellowship with our Creator, we are invited to come as we are. Because the grace of Jesus covers us, we can ask and receive the grace and forgiveness we so desperately need, knowing that our Father loves to hear our voices.  And not only that but by asking and receiving mercy and grace from the Most Holy, we are likewise compelled to be extenders of mercy and grace to others. In God’s economy, these are two sides of the same coin. Jesus is showing us that God receives glory and is honored both as a forgiver and as we who have been forgiven extend forgiveness to others. Lead us not into temptation but deliver us from evil // A Prayer of Protection As Jesus closes his Great Prayer, we see the truth of our condition as seen in Paul’s letter to the church Ephesus when he wrote, “For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms.” (Ephesians 6:10-18) We are in a spiritual battle being waged in the heavenly realms. Here, Jesus models that prayer is a primary weapon in that battle. Those of us who are in Jesus—those for whom God created fellowship with Him—have heavenly authority through the name of Jesus to call out to God for protection and deliverance, not only for ourselves but also for the world. John 8:12 says, “When Jesus spoke again to the people, he said, ‘I am the light of the world. Whoever follows me will never walk in darkness, but will have the light of life’” So, how do we pray? Although there are many ways, a great place to start is to follow the model of The Lord’s Prayer, which was put forth to us by the One whose pathways never darken and whose glory lights the world: Jesus.

In the coming months, we sat in the tension between the promise of the upcoming trip and the angst of knowing it was still several LONG months away. One dilemma I faced related to this time gap was whether or not to go ahead and show our daughters the many websites and pictures that capture the amazingness of Yellowstone or to hold off so that they would experience the wonders of Yellowstone firsthand with fresh eyes. I landed somewhere in between these two extremes.  Over those long months, when I sensed they were having a hard day, I would open my laptop, pull them in tight on the couch, and give them insight into what was ahead for us at Yellowstone. These occasional glimpses of what was to come would lift their minds and hearts off their difficulties and redirect them toward a place of delight, helping them see the promise of better days ahead. Throughout the Old Testament, God acts similarly when giving prophetic promises of Good News to his chosen people of Israel.  Prophecy is understood to be the gift of communicating God’s revealed truth, with prophets being those human vessels appointed to both possess the gift and communicate the revealed truth to the people (Jeremiah 23:18-22).  For no prophecy was ever produced by the will of man, but men spoke from God as they were carried along by the Holy Spirit. 2 Peter 1:21 Theologian Matthew Henry (1662-1714) noted that God’s timing in prophetic instruction to his people always came during times of despair and loss, highlighting the reality that “divine comforts most delight the soul when under the pressure of perplexed thoughts.”  We see throughout Scripture that God desires to reveal his love to his people, and he often accomplished this aim through prophecy. There are more than 300 prophecies found in the Old Testament, each serving to communicate God-ordained good news to a people in desperate need of good news. The prophecies that contained the best news were those concerning the promise of a coming Messiah. These prophecies acted as megaphones for God’s loving voice, revealing His plans and promises for their deliverance.  Not only did these Messianic prophecies foretell a coming Savior, but they also foretold that: The Messiah would be in the ancestral line of Abraham and the tribe of Judah. (Genesis 12:3; 17:19; Numbers 24:17; Genesis 49:10; Matthew 1:1-16) The place of his birth would be Bethlehem. (Micah 5:2; Luke 2:4-7) He would be miraculously born of a virgin. (Isaiah 7:14; Luke 1:27) His name would be Immanuel. (Isaiah 7:14; Matthew 1:23) Every detail of these remarkable Messianic prophecies was fulfilled in the person of Jesus at his birth. We need to hear the Good News and God’s promises for our lives like the Israelites. Almost everyone reading this article is likely navigating strife. Perhaps it’s a financial challenge, relationship struggle, battle with depression, anxiety, or sickness. Just like the Israelites, our daily experiences demonstrate the brokenness of this world and reveal our desperate need to hear the voice of God. Thanks be to God that he has given us his Holy Word full of prophetic promises of what’s to come that far surpass our temporary suffering.  One that I’m clinging to this Christmas season is God’s prophetic promise to one day wipe every tear from every eye and put to death, death. (Revelation 21:4) Another is God’s promise that, through his divine power and mystery, he will “work all things for the good of those who love him and who have been called according to his purpose.” (Romans 8:28) My prayer for you and me is that we will allow the prophetic promises of God to wash over our souls and redirect our minds and hearts this Christmas. Just as the hearts and minds of my daughters were shifted toward delight by those small glimpses of Yellowstone, let’s allow the prophetic promises of God to redirect our hearts to delight as we glimpse the majesty of Jesus.

A few Christmases ago, we decided to forgo traditional gifts and instead do one big family gift in the form of a trip to Yellowstone National Park the following summer. In the coming months, we sat in the tension between the promise of the upcoming trip and the angst of knowing it was still several LONG months away. One dilemma I faced related to this time gap was whether or not to go ahead and show our daughters the many websites and pictures that capture the amazingness of Yellowstone or to hold off so that they would experience the wonders of Yellowstone firsthand with fresh eyes. I landed somewhere in between these two extremes.  Over those long months, when I sensed they were having a hard day, I would open my laptop, pull them in tight on the couch, and give them insight into what was ahead for us at Yellowstone. These occasional glimpses of what was to come would lift their minds and hearts off their difficulties and redirect them toward a place of delight, helping them see the promise of better days ahead. Throughout the Old Testament, we see God acting similarly when giving prophetic messages of good news promises to his chosen people of Israel.  Prophecy is understood to be the gift of communicating God’s revealed truth, with prophets being those human vessels appointed to both possess the gift and communicate the revealed truth to the people (Jeremiah 23:18-22).  For no prophecy was ever produced by the will of man, but men spoke from God as they were carried along by the Holy Spirit. 2 Peter 1:21 Theologian Matthew Henry (1662-1714) noted that God’s timing in prophetic instruction to his people always came during times of despair and loss, highlighting the reality that “divine comforts most delight the soul when under the pressure of perplexed thoughts.”  Scripture shows that God desires to reveal his love to his people, and he often accomplished this aim through prophecy. There are more than 300 prophecies found in the Old Testament, each serving to communicate God-ordained good news to a people in desperate need of good news. The prophecies that contained the best news concerned the promise of a coming Messiah. These prophecies acted as megaphones for God’s loving voice, revealing His plans and promises for their deliverance.  Not only did these Messianic prophecies foretell a coming Savior, but they also foretold that: The Messiah would be in the ancestral line of Abraham and the tribe of Judah. (Genesis 12:3; 17:19; Numbers 24:17; Genesis 49:10; Matthew 1:1-16)The place of his birth would be Bethlehem. (Micah 5:2; Luke 2:4-7)He would be miraculously born of a virgin. (Isaiah 7:14; Luke 1:27)His name would be Immanuel. (Isaiah 7:14; Matthew 1:23) Every detail of these remarkable Messianic prophecies was fulfilled in the person of Jesus at his birth. We need to hear the Good News and God’s promises for our lives like the Israelites. Almost everyone reading this article is likely navigating strife. Perhaps it’s a financial challenge, relationship struggle, battle with depression, anxiety, or sickness. Just like the Israelites, our daily experiences demonstrate the brokenness of this world and reveal our desperate need to hear the voice of God. Thanks be to God that he has given us his Holy Word full of prophetic promises of what’s to come that far surpass our temporary suffering.  One that I’m clinging to this Christmas season is God’s prophetic promise to one day wipe every tear from every eye and put to death, death. (Revelation 21:4) Another is God’s promise that, through his divine power and mystery, he will “work all things for the good of those who love him and who have been called according to his purpose.” (Romans 8:28) My prayer for you and me is that we will allow the prophetic promises of God to wash over our souls and redirect our minds and hearts this Christmas. Just as the hearts and minds of my daughters were shifted toward delight by those small glimpses of Yellowstone, let’s allow the prophetic promises of God to redirect our hearts to delight as we glimpse the majesty of Jesus.